This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, these statements are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is or is not prior art.
Owing to scarcity of known reserves as well as environmental concerns, increased attention is being paid to developing new fossil or renewable resources, such as shale oil/gas, tar sands and biomass. In particular, biomass has been shown to be an important renewable source, which can be converted into both sustainable fuels and chemicals. Among various techniques for biomass conversion, fast pyrolysis is attractive for bio-oil production, which can subsequently be upgraded to alternative liquid fuels or converted into chemicals. The high oxygen content of bio-oils, however, remains a major challenge, since it decreases stability, combustion performance and heating value of fuels. There is therefore an unmet need for alternate methods for biomass conversion.